Homesick

Having grown up in Montana, I am so grateful for every moment I was lucky enough to spend in nature. Whether you’re getting an Indian summer now, or fall is beginning to settle in, take some time to step away from the constructions of life and enter into nature. Even if it is just in a city park, pay attention to natural sounds: birds, leaves and grass beneath your feet, wind brushing through the trees.

If you’re really ambitious, try going to the same place all fall and winter, at least twice per week. Get to know your spot. Notice the changes. Impermanence. Notice how you feel about the changes.

If you’re really, really ambitious, journal it. Take photos – but nothing too fancy, you don’t want a high-tech camera becoming your object of attention while you’re there. Keep the journal simple too – no iPads or laptops. Buy a locally made, recycled-paper, artsy journal. Draw your surroundings, even if you’re not good at drawing. 

It’s all part of noticing, and it’s a practice that is purely a gift to yourself, from yourself.

And maybe, some time down the road, you can pull out that journal or some of those photos and sink back into the nature in a way you would hardly believe possible, unless you’ve done it.

* The photo is from Glacier National Park. I managed to get there a couple times a year between 2008 and 2010.

** I actually had a class in which the above ‘meditation’ was an assignment, so I can’t take credit for the idea.